The Lancaster High School girls gymnastics team finished fifth at OCC and nineteenth overall in the district this year. The girls’ team is small but mighty, consisting of two seniors, two juniors, one sophomore, and one freshman. New head coach Jennifer Lockwood Lape highlighted all the meets they hosted at the YMCA Rec Plex. 

“A highlight from the season would be the home meets we hosted in January at the YMCA Rec Plex. Our high school gymnasts train alongside the gymnastics team from the Lancaster Y, which includes gymnasts ranging in age from 5 to 18. The “little girls” showed up that day with so much excitement and energy, along with posters they had made to cheer on our high school girls at their meet. They look up to them so much. It was awesome to have them there cheering,” said Lockwood Lape. 

Senior and captain Maggie Conkel said her senior year was enjoyable. Her biggest accomplishment was improving all her skills overall. 

“It was my last season, so I was determined to work hard and improve for myself. I am very proud of how I did this season overall,” said Conkel. 

LHS junior Lexi Lape said this season was an overall struggle for her because of an injury, but she was determined to end the season on a high note.  

“This season for me was personally good. I battled an injury this season that was not ideal, but I was still happy with my season. Finishing up the season, I ended up winning a regular season meet individually along with a couple individual event wins as well. I was also awarded the highest scoring on all events,” said Lape. 

Conkel said the challenges the team faced were mostly due to their few athletes. 

“I would say the most challenging part for both me and the girls was how small our team was this year. Last year, we had a pretty big team, but we lost a lot of the seniors this year. Everyone always had to be at their best, because if not there was no one to go in to pick it up. But we handled it very well. Both the girls and I did such a good job this year, and I am very proud,” said Coknel. 

Coach Lockwood Lape said other challenges the team faced were mostly out of their control.

“This season we had several meets canceled due to weather. It is very difficult to reschedule a gymnastics meet, and we ended up not getting to face all the teams in our division. This hurt our team’s final rankings a bit. It was also a bummer because it gave our kids fewer opportunities to compete after all the hard work put in,” said Lockwood Lape.

Lexi Lape said the team dynamics this year stood out from previous seasons. 

“This season has been a very different experience but unique compared to last year. With coaching changes, weather issues that lead to meet cancellations, and having a significantly smaller team this year. It has for sure been different, but I think our team had an amazing season, and it brought us all closer together,” said Lape. 

Moving on, the team has set important goals for the future, including increasing the number of gymnasts on the team and improving their ranking in the OCC. 

“Next season our goal is to grow the team. We will be losing two seniors but hopefully gaining a big class of freshmen. We are also hoping for the return of several previous gymnasts who were injured this season. We will be working on cleaning up routines and adding upgrades to maximize our scoring potential. We want to improve our finish in the OCC,” said Lockwood Lape.